‘American Gods’ Almost Cast Nicolas Cage as Mr. Wednesday

Few would argue that Deadwood alum Ian McShane made inspired casting for Bryan Fuller’s American Gods, but things could have been much, much weirder. According to Nicolas Cage (yes, that Nicolas Cage, just for re-emphasis), Starz’s hotly-anticipated series nearly cast him as Mr. Wednesday.

The surprising tidbit came out of an L.A. Times interview over Cage’s eclectic film career, in which the Army of One star admitted the common pull of TV roles these days. Cage admitted he might one day end up doing TV roles (hey, think McConaissance, big guy), adding that he’d even turned down American Gods:

You know, it’s a good point and I’ve been invited many times to go on a show, one of which was on Neil Gaiman’s “American Gods” to play Mr. Wednesday, which was a great part, beautifully written. And I said no. And William Friedkin, we’ve been talking about doing different things. […]

I’m just still a little bit of a snob. I mean, I’m holding on. Again, I’m never going to say never but I’m, like, kicking and screaming that I just want to stay in movies.

Considering the long development process, it’s difficult to say whether Cage was approached for the role before or after Bryan Fuller had signed on, and the showrunner himself has yet to weigh in. American Gods remains one of the more anticipated series of 2017, but would it at least have been … interesting to see Cage in the role?